Everything is Optional

I’m trying to get a cooking show to air. Cooking with Ivy. I’m a mum with a sweet idea and some pluck. This here blog is a dream factory, a testament and a testing ground (sometimes I don’t know genius from horsefeathers until i see it in bold and white). And for you it is a little glimpse into this crazy journey. And some excellent recipes to boot.

So in the midst of a slow motion food revolution, wherein good folks like Jamie Oliver are urging us back into our kitchens, I offer Cooking With Ivy. One half hour of good messy fun during which I, well, cook with Ivy. It’s sweet but not too, it’s scripted but only just. Things go charmingly wrong in our loving kitchen. Well they’d have to I guess, when a 2 year old is involved.

Oh and what a two year old she is. She’ll be three, I guess, by the time we shoot the pilot. You could catch her here: Hello Ivy.

I have my moments too. I’m just not so inclined to film them and stick them on youtube. In fact, my ambivalence about appearing on camera might be something of a theme here, as will my journey to become ‘camera ready’ (lovely phrase, that) involving pilates, a rowing machine and various other forms of torture. I’ve also gone back to school, to beef up my cooking credentials (so to speak), which should make for some good reading. For you that is.

Other likely content? Well, Ivy’s dad is likely to make a few appearances. He’s a good eater. Also the general progress of the show. To wit: I’ve written a script for the pilot episode. I have a willing crew in place to shoot it but not the ten grand it’s going to cost, so I’m working on that. I have some kind souls offering experience and connections. In other words, it’s moving along swimmingly (but it’s doing the crawl).

A note on the recipes in this blog: I want to share all this great food with you; pictures and videos and instructions and ideas, but strict recipes? Not so much. My amounts are hazy and my substitutions so many I cannot list them all. It would be all “use this or this or this with this or this or that” all day long. Really, each dish should be prefaced with:

Well, this dish sure worked out great! Let me show you what I did. But for goodness sake, please do it however you like. Just remember: everything is Optional and everything To Taste at all times.